A's lose to Rangers 4-3

OAKLAND -- It's absolutely correct to say that the A's lost Monday's series opener with the Rangers 4-3 because two former A's, Kevin Kouzmanoff and Donnie Murphy, delivered key hits late in the game.

It's just as true, however, to say that the A's lost this one because Oakland didn't deliver key hits early in the game. The A's scored three times in the first four innings to take a 3-1 lead. But they left seven men on base during that stretch, and it proved to be pivotal when Darvish and the Rangers' bullpen stiffened up later in the night.

"We had our chances,'' third baseman Josh Donaldson said.

Manager Bob Melvin said the A's had Darvish "on the ropes'' but had to conclude that Darvish got key outs when he had to do so.

The A's left Coco Crisp on third base in the first inning, put the first two batters of the third on without scoring, then loaded the bases with two out in the fourth, again coming away empty. Melvin pointed to Darvish rushing a fastball by Alberto Callaspo with one out and men on second and third in the third and pinch-hitter Yoenis Cespedes hitting a fly ball to the wall in left-center with a man on in the seventh as plays that could have gone the other way.

"We had men on second and third and he blows a fastball by Callaspo there,'' Melvin said. "Then Cespedes hits one. I thought it was out when he hit it."

It wasn't, and the A's didn't have another rally in them.

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Reliever Sean Doolittle wasn't in the slightest concerned about the fact that the A's stranded 11 and were 1 for 10 with men in scoring position. He was instead furious with himself for letting a game get away after starter Dan Straily "battled his butt off to keep us in the game.''

Kouzmanoff, who played with Oakland in 2010-11 doubled to open the eighth of a 3-all game, then took third on a bunt before Murphy, who played for the A's in 2007-08, delivered a single that brought home the game's final run through the middle of a drawn-in infield.

"I've got to be better than that,'' Doolittle said. "The thing is, we were tied and we as a bullpen expect to hold on, knowing the hitters will give us the run to win it. I didn't do my job.''

The A's have a long history of success against Darvish. He's lost 18 big league games in three years, and the A's have one third of those wins in a six-game winning streak. After Brandon Moss homered in the third and Coco Crisp drove in two runs with a single, it seemed like more of the same was on tap. It wasn't.

And Straily was far from at his best. He'd given up a leadoff homer in the first to Shin-Soo Choo, then after taking a 3-1 lead, gave up single runs in the fourth on an RBI single by American League Player of the Week Kouzmanoff, then surrendered the tying run on three consecutive two-out singles in the fifth.

"Tonight I battled myself,'' Straily said. "My first-pitch command was just terrible. I just can't have that.''

Melvin challenged a safe call at first base in the seventh inning on a ball that deflected off reliever Fernando Abad and carried to Donaldson at third.

Melvin said the play came at a time in the game when he would have challenged it anyway, but the A's felt Choo was out, and the replay confirmed that and overturned the original call.

Coco Crisp remained in the game after making an attempted diving catch in the eighth inning against Kouzmanoff. Melvin said Crisp's ribs were hurting and he would be checked out before Tuesday's second game of the series.

Oakland starter A.J. Griffin is getting closer to throwing a baseball again, but it's been five weeks now since he was diagnosed as having a flexor strain in his right elbow, and he still doesn't know when he'll be able to get back to getting ready to pitch.

First he had to take three weeks off with no exercise, and he's at the end of the second week of doing strengthening exercises. ``I don't have a set schedule for when I'll start throwing,'' Griffin said. ``We don't want to rush it.''

Doolittle said the hardest part of striking his new five-year deal with the A's, a deal agreed to Friday, was not being able to talk to anyone about it during the negotiations ``It's hard to keep it quiet,'' Doolittle said. ``You would like to have someone to bounce things off of, but that's not something you can do.''

Michael Choice, who came up with the A's at the end of last year and who was widely seen as the core component of the A's outfield down the line, says he's enjoying life with the Rangers. He was traded to Texas in the deal that brought outfielder Craig Gentry to Oakland. Entering Monday's game — he was not in the lineup — Choice had played in 14 of Texas's 19 games, but only had 25 at-bats and a .200 average. There have been five pinch-hit at-bats and some calls to serve as a late-inning defender. ``It's been good,'' Choice said, particularly happy that he's based at home. He grew up not far from Arlington, Texas, where the Rangers were his team. ``I'm getting a chance to play some.''